We decided to get together and explain The Regret of Vitrerran's combat system in a bit more depth as screenshots don't do the game much justice. We hope you enjoy.
Read MoreA Character Driven Story
One of the selling points of The Regret of Vitrerran is that it has a character-driven story. This "Key feature" is something I've thrown around a handful of times, though I've never actually explained what it means. That is something that needs to be fixed.
I've always looked at novels and other written stories under two guides: plot driven or character driven. All novels fall somewhere between the two to be sure--for characters without a plot or a plot without characters make for bad storytelling--but the main approach seems to either be one of plot or one of characters.
A plot-driven piece of work is one where the story is thought out ahead of time. Perhaps the author crafted an extensive outline and his characters followed his preplanned plan with efficiency. Perhaps the author crafted an outline and deviated more than he thought, yet still his characters hit the major headings in their proper fashion. Character arcs and character development are forethought things.
The Golden Compass reads like a very plot-driven affair. The speed with which Lyra makes her way through the book can only be described as rapid, and everything seems to happen and fit together too perfectly for forethought to have not been involved.
A character-driven piece of work is one that's driven by the characters. The author starts out with a small idea, a set of people he wants to work with, and then he throws it all together in a blender. Once he has enough to start working, he simply starts working and damn the consequences! Some things will be preplanned, specific instances of notable importance, but everything else will be spontaneous.
Cujo was a character-driven story by Stephen King's own admittance, and really, almost all of his novels are. That's just how he writes.
But in video games, the writing process is much more difficult.
Read MorePress Release
Today marks our attempt at going public. I've sent out our first press release to a few sites, and in an effort to spread the word just a bit more, I'm also posting it here. All of this information is open to use.
Read MoreSvarog: Volcanoes, Lava, and Ash
I've spent the last few days finalizing the basics--and that's an oxymoron, I should think--of Svarog, the fire-themed level in The Regret of Vitrerran. This is the first level I started working on sometime early last year, and it's crazy how different it is now than when I first started.
So, time to show it off!
Read MoreCharacter Introduction: Caud and Pakasoph
I am really, really excited to talk about the characters for The Regret of Vitrerran, for they have been my passion part of this project. I love working on everything else, but writing…that is something special to me.
So. Caud and Pakasoph! Of all the characters I’ve started fleshing out, these are my two favorites. I love their personalities and the dynamic that is built out of them. There just so easy to write! The others give me all kinds of troubles, but these two somehow do all the work for me.
I suppose I should start at the beginning: When we were in early stages of design and looking at areas and spells the player should visit, one of the first places that I suggested was a swamp. There’s something kind of fun and creepy about video game swamps; you get all the joy without the bad smells or sticky boots.
Read MoreA Last Minute Change
The title to this post is one part joke and one part reality. As it stands, The Regret of Vitrerran is early in development and so any changes made right now aren’t and cannot be last minute. We haven’t even Kickstarted this yet! However, we did—or rather, Joe did—employ a very substantial change that has pushed our Kicktarter plans back a bit.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, the last two and a half weeks have been absolutely correct.
The Regret of Vitrerran is now a different game with different gameplay.
Read MoreEvolution of an Art Style 2: Monster Design
My brother has been absolutely killing it with art this last month, and I really want to show off some of it. And because every piece of high fantasy needs monsters to fight, I figure I'd start there. We finally have some monsters in our game!
Read MoreEvolution of an Art Style
I don't know exactly when Joe and I started working on The Regret of Vitrerran, but I started the game's Bible sometime in September of 2012. For my part, I went for story elements and world creation while Joe started on programming a level editor. We talked nonstop and scribbled out sketches and diagrams of what we wanted, and things just started moving forward.
See, it's easy to get lost in the evolution of a large project. When I open up our level editor now, I can see something near finished and with all sorts of bells and whistles (some of which I still don't know how to work). I can open levels and enjoy the color and the lights and then add trees or water as needed.
That, of course, wasn't always the case...
Read MoreConcept!...Sketches
I’m a huge fan of looking at video game concept art. Most of it is either a mix of beautiful or awesomely strange, and it’s a fun way to build hype for an upcoming video game or create feelings of “what could have been” for video games that are already out.
So. Here’s the thing: We don’t have any real concept art. I feel bad about that, truly, but our approach to doing the art for The Regret of Vitrerran hasn’t required any. As a two-man team, it’s been easier to just go, “Hey, so my idea for this character is…” and then talk about it until we are both happy. After that, Joe goes off and draws what needs drawing so we can put it directly into the game.
But, there have been a few times where discussion led to drawings...
Read MoreExample
Example